One State Is Winning The Fast Food Game

If you had to wager which state eats the most fast food, you might say Illinois or Minnesota given that the Midwest is known for tasty, convenient fare like Chicago-style hot dogs and Juicy Lucy burgers. Or, by virtue of population size alone, California or New York may come to mind. However, researchers at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts crunched the numbers, and the top state may surprise you: Maryland.

In Maryland, almost half of all restaurants (46.76%, to be exact) are of the fast food variety. To put that into perspective, the national average is just over 35%. So, the Old Line State is seemingly much more densely populated with franchises and chains than most of America.

If you're wondering what Marylanders are eating, Stacker compiled a list of the state's most popular fast food restaurants based on 2022 data from the Friendly Cities Lab at Georgia Tech. Subways are by far the most common, with 446 Maryland locations. Dunkin' and McDonald's come in second and third place, respectively. While some geographically distinct options like the forgotten Maryland fast food franchise Chicken George are no longer available, staples like Chaps Pit Beef — our pick for the best regional fast food chain in the state — are still going strong.

Maryland's high percentage of fast food restaurants helped it secure the title of America's fast food capital, but the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts also considered two other factors: the number of fast food restaurants per capita and the percentage of total spending devoted to fast food. After ranking states in these three categories and combining their scores, researchers gave each state an overall 0-100 rating. Maryland snagged a perfect 100, trailed by Nevada at 97.24.

If you're surprised by these results, keep in mind that this is just one study, and Maryland may have an unfair advantage. The state has a smaller number of restaurants overall according to the Escoffier school, giving it a very high score in the first category.

Even in other areas, however, the state staggered. Maryland placed third in restaurants per capita, with Hawaii coming in first. Nevada, on the other hand, scored the number-one spot for fast food spending, whereas Maryland didn't even make the top five.